Teaching Activities

These teaching activities have been designed with the aim of helping develop students' quantitative skills, literacy, or reasoning. To search by a specific discipline, use the 'Refine the Results' links on the right.

Carbon Dioxide ExerciseRebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus Students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over time on overheads and estimating the rate of change over five years. -

The Modern Atmospheric CO2 RecordBob Mackay, Clark College Students compare carbon dioxide (CO2) data from Mauna Loa Observatory, Barrow (Alaska), and the South Pole over the past 40 years to help them better understand what controls atmospheric CO2. -

Flood Frequency and Risk AssessmentCarol Ormand, Carleton College Students calculate recurrence intervals for various degrees of flooding based on historical data. Students then do a risk assessment for the surrounding community.

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Rate of Lava FlowBarb Tewksbury, Hamilton College Question In 1983, an eruption began at Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii that has proved to be the largest and longest-lived eruption since records began in 1823. Lava has poured out of the volcano at an average rate of ...

Understanding Radioactivity in Geology: The Basics of DecayChristina StringerâUniversity of South Florida, Tampa FL 33620
This activity was developed for Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum . National Science Foundation, DUE 0442629. PowerPoint module leading students through creation and manipulation of spreadsheet to forward model an example of exponential decayâthe number of remaining unpopped kernels of popcorn in a bag of popping popcorn.